A multi-agency statewide CCA Committee selected initial criteria
for identifying CCAs, resulting in the current (2002) list of 101
CCAs along the coast and within San Francisco Bay. The CCA Committee,
with public input, will reevaluate the criteria and revise the CCA
list periodically; the next revision is scheduled for 2006.
The identification criteria reflect the dual goals of improving
degraded water quality, and providing extra protection from NPS
pollution to marine areas with recognized high resource value. The
CCA program relies on existing designations of degraded water quality
(i.e., the
Clean Water Act 303(d) list of impaired and threatened water bodies), and marine or estuarine areas with high resource value (i.e.,
California Marine
Managed Areas, including State
Water Quality Protection Areas, and equivalent areas specified
in the San
Francisco Bay Plan).
Four criteria were used to identify CCAs on the 2002 CCA list.
• The 25 original CCAs identified in 1995—based upon
the 303(d) list at that time—as:
1. Coastal watershed areas that drain into impaired coastal waters
on the 1995 303(d) list.
• The 2002 CCA list revision narrowed the focus for identifying
new CCAs with impaired waters—based on the more recent 1998
303(d) list—to:
2. Coastal watershed areas where impaired waters flow into Marine
Managed Areas (MMAs); and
3. Shoreline areas within San Francisco Bay where impaired waters
flow into wildlife refuges, waterfront parks, and beaches (as
a substitute for MMAs).
• To better protect marine areas of high resource value that
are not yet impacted by NPS pollution, the 2002 CCA list added:
4. Coastal watershed areas that drain into State Water Quality
Protection Areas (also known as Areas of Special Biological Significance).
The initial inland boundary of a CCA is the Coastal Zone (as defined
in the California Coastal Act); however, planning efforts may
be extended farther inland as needed. The boundaries along the
shoreline will be determined on a case-by-case basis.  See how individual CCAs were identified
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